Early snowfall wreaks havoc on central Sask. highways

A mixture of overnight snow and rain is making for slippery highways in central Saskatchewan.

A semi in the ditch on Highway 11 on Sept. 22, 2018. (Ryan Zimmerman)

On Saturday morning, Highway Hotline began warning drivers to watch for winter conditions even going so far as to not recommend travel on Highway 4 north and south of Rosetown.

Winter driving conditions are in effect for most of central Saskatchewan, ranging from Moose Jaw all the way to North Battleford.

Environment Canada ended its last remaining snowfall warning in the province just after 1 p.m. Saturday.

Meteorologist Amanda Prysizney expects conditions in the province to improve as the weather systems move east.

“That’s all moving off in to Manitoba now,” she said. “In behind all of southern Sasktchewan, we’re left with this cruddy low cloud and it just depends on how low those temperatures go.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean a drastic improvement for now.

“As the thicker cloud is moving off, we do have lower clouds, drizzly, foggy conditions,” Prysizney said. “Overall, conditions should be improving.”

“Mostly just cloudy and well below seasonal (norms).”

Meanwhile, Kim Markwart said it was a harrowing drive along Highway 11 for her Saturday morning.

“We almost went in the ditch twice; it was slick, slick, slick. There were semis in the ditch every 10 minutes,” she described.

Environment Canada says up to 5 centimetres — or two inches — of snow could fall along Highway 11 alone throughout Saturday.